Using SVG Images

Clipart, logos, and letterforms in Scalable Vector Format can usually be imported into Illustrator, basically functioning the same way as AI files. Sometimes Illustrator will not recognize a particular SVG file for what could be a number of reasons, usually because of versioning issues. As time goes on and standards settle into place, this sort of problem should diminish.

Illustrator can also export to SVG format. This file format is primarily used on the Web. SVG is a text-based format derived from XML, interpreted by browser software to render an image. The XML literally describes the image to the interpreter. Another example of this sort of format is Postscript, which uses text and language to describe a page to be printed onto paper.

Because SVG is vector-based, it is resolution-independent. This means that images will not degrade at any screen size or magnification.

In searching for SVG clipart using Google, type in your search term this way: image: recycle logo svg. Then select "Images" from the context bar at the left of the page. Often, an image will be rendered in a raster format such as PNG. However, such raster images sometimes link to SVG versions. Not all browsers support SVG, although all so-called modern browsers do.

The "flower" logo shown above/left is a JPG rendering of the W3C logo for SVG. I originally obtained the SVG version of this logo from Wikipedia, creating the JPG version from that. JPG files contain text and binary data, meaning that they could, in theory, also be made to contain a hidden text-based vector version of the image being rendered. This is really only of academic interest to people with no lives. Speaking of which, the image here depicted does, in fact, have embedded text reading, "This is text hidden in a JPG file." If you open the file in a text editor, you will find that text at the end of line #1.

Embedding hidden text this way is a form of "steganography," but that is completely different subject.